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TI-2026-19331 Aliases CVE-2026-23990GHSA-4xh5-jcj2-ch8q

Flux Operator Web UI Impersonation Bypass via Empty OIDC Claims

Priority LOW 24CWE-269Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Network
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
High
Impact type
Privilege escalation, Security bypass
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · None · None
Fix status
Fixed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and GitHub. Impact type from CWE-269 and CWE-862.

Summary

The Flux Operator is a Kubernetes CRD controller that manages the lifecycle of CNCF Flux CD and the ControlPlane enterprise distribution. Starting in version 0.36.0 and prior to version 0.40.0, a privilege escalation vulnerability exists in the Flux Operator Web UI authentication code that allows an attacker to bypass Kubernetes RBAC impersonation and execute API requests with the operator's service account privileges. In order to be vulnerable, cluster admins must configure the Flux Operator with an OIDC provider that issues tokens lacking the expected claims (e.g., `email`, `groups`), or configure custom CEL expressions that can evaluate to empty values. After OIDC token claims are processed through CEL expressions, there is no validation that the resulting `username` and `groups` values are non-empty. When both values are empty, the Kubernetes client-go library does not add impersonation headers to API requests, causing them to be executed with the flux-operator service account's credentials instead of the authenticated user's limited permissions. This can result in privilege escalation, data exposure, and/or information disclosure. Version 0.40.0 patches the issue.

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00442 38th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Fixed flux-operator (controlplaneio-fluxcd): 0.40.0github.com/controlplaneio-fluxcd/flux-operator (Go): 0.40.0

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
controlplaneio-fluxcdflux-operator0.36.0 to before 0.40.00.40.0Patch availableCNA
—github.com/controlplaneio-fluxcd/flux-operator (Go)0.36.0 to before 0.40.00.40.0Patch availableGHSA-4xh5-jcj2-ch8q
  • flux-operator Vendorcontrolplaneio-fluxcd Affected 0.36.0 to before 0.40.0 Fixed in 0.40.0 Patch available CNA
  • github.com/controlplaneio-fluxcd/flux-operator (Go) Vendor— Affected 0.36.0 to before 0.40.0 Fixed in 0.40.0 Patch available GHSA-4xh5-jcj2-ch8q

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:a:control-plane:flux_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*0.36.0 to before 0.40.0VulnerableControl-plane
  • cpe:2.3:a:control-plane:flux_operator:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 0.36.0 to before 0.40.0 Vulnerable ·Control-plane

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA flux-operator (controlplaneio-fluxcd) Fixed in 0.40.0
  • Fix · GHSA-4xh5-jcj2-ch8q github.com/controlplaneio-fluxcd/flux-operator (Go) Fixed in 0.40.0 Advisory →

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2026-23990
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-4xh5-jcj2-ch8q

References

Sources